Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Symbol of Scary Things by Michelle Snyder

Halloween, or Samhain, the ancient pagan new year, is
celebrated at the beginning of winter, a time when everything dies. Corn
stalks, harvest sheaves, and scarecrows are all symbolic of the rituals and
tradition of the harvest, the basis of the Samhain or All Hallows Eve
celebrations. In agriculture, scarecrows are responsible for keeping the birds
away. Other common Halloween symbols - cats, snakes, and owls - were depended
upon for keeping grain stores rodent-free. In order to suppress pagan
agricultural industry, these animals were demonized by the church, associating
them with all things evil.

Samhain was a time when the gates to the underworld were
believed to be opened and spirits roamed the earth freely.Offerings of fruits and vegetables were
made to honor the dead. Over time, a night to remember and honor the dead
became a night of fear of the dead; a day when fairies and ghosts were about.
This required masks to hide from the fairies and ancestor-worship rites to
placate the spirits. Skeletons are symbols of the dead and a favorite Halloween
decoration. Samhain was a night when the dead could cross over and communicate.
This was an important time for divination, as any information about the nature
of the coming winter was valuable.

Goblins, also a Halloween symbol, are not ghosts. Goblin is actually the French name for Fairy Folk or Fair Folk, the descendants of the white-skinned blonde Maglamosian
people; northern Europeans who, because of their knowledge of astronomy and
natural sciences, were feared and powerful, and gained the reputation of being
able to do magic.

A very popular activity at Halloween is carving pumpkin
faces and lighting them from inside with a candle. These scary faces are
sentries designed to scare off evil spirits; legends of the demon Jack probably
originated from sightings of bog and marsh “lights” that looked like lanterns
being carried. Referred to as Jack-O-Lanterns, they were caused by combustion
of methane and marsh gasses.

The most common Halloween character of all is the witch. The
word witch likely comes from a word
meaning wise one. Pagan witches have
many traditions. It is said that at their annual celebration they would marry,
initiate new witches, and dance about on branches or broomsticks. Old pictures
of witches show them worshipping a horned figure, most likely Cernunnos, the
Celtic god of the woods, a Green Man. When the church attempted to stamp out or
change all pagan celebrations Cernunnos became a devil figure. Later, witches
were imaged with wings like a bat’s; bats fly at night and sleep hanging upside
down, lending them to be associated with scary things.

Kids love to dress up and go out to Trick or Treat. Viewed
as extortion by some, the tradition actually comes from a time when poorer
families went house begging, offering prayers for the dead en exchange for food
and money. This was called “guising” (disguising” oneself and knocking on the
doors of the affluent) Those who gave were blessed with good luck, those who
were stingy were threatened with bad luck. Trick or treat is actually a later
American phrase and was known as a time of pranks that were supernatural in
character, such as taking apart something large and putting it back together on
a roof, or fixing a door so it wouldn’t open. People gave candy to avoid having
pranks played on them. As the popularity of pranking died out, candy was still
given to groups of children who visited their neighbors in costumes to get some
goodies.

Early Christians disliked Samhain’s association and connection
with the supernatural, and spread the belief that spirits of the dead were
delusions from the devil. Eventually the Celtic traditions became associated
with the Christian hell, and were greatly feared. Today, less moral
significance and more theatrical emphasis is enjoyed by those who practice
Halloween traditions. As it is with December to January New Year celebrations,
in Pagan and Wiccan traditions Allhallows Eve is considered a good time to make
a new start or begin new projects.

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